LaDainian Tomlinson (born June 23, 1979) is an American football player who currently plays running back for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League. Tomlinson, frequently called "LT", set several records during the 2006 NFL season by scoring a league-leading 186 points. He received additional honors by winning the NFL’s Most Valuable Player Award and the Associated Press’ Offensive Player of the Year Award.

Tomlinson was recruited by many schools, but was not considered one of the nation's top high school backs coming out of high school. Thus, Tomlinson signed with Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, a small school then in the Western Athletic Conference.

In his senior season in 2000, Tomlinson led the NCAA for the second time with 2,158 yards and 22 touchdowns while piling on 354 yards receiving. He won the Doak Walker Award as the nation's best running back, and was a finalist for the Heisman, but came in fourth. He completed his college career with 5,263 rushing yards, ranking sixth in NCAA Division I history.

The school retired his jersey number (5) during halftime of a November 2005 game against UNLV. In December of that year, Tomlinson fulfilled a promise to his mother by earning his degree in communications from TCU.

The San Diego Chargers selected Tomlinson in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft, as the fifth overall pick.

Tomlinson immediately became the starting running back with the Chargers and has started all but one game since. He has achieved immediate success in the NFL, rushing for over 1,200 yards and making over 50 receptions in each of his six seasons. He has also proven to be effective as a passer, having completed seven career passes, six of them for touchdowns and a career passer rating of 152.1